Hugo Augusto

Hugo is the CEO of Semapa Next, a European venture firm investing at Series A in companies with the ambition to become global category leaders. His approach to investing is grounded in having been an operator first: he started his tech career in the U.S. as an immigrant founder, built and scaled a company, and went through an exit. That experience shaped his conviction on ownership, governance, and how leadership quality compounds as companies grow.

Before Semapa Next, Hugo helped build Techstars Lisbon, working closely with founders and co-investors across Europe and the U.S. Today, he spends most of his time partnering with CEOs navigating the shift from early traction to sustained scale, often guiding them through their first real board, senior hires, and the trade-offs that define the growth stage.